This invention is in the field of toys and relates particularly to a pellet-firing toy gun of the gatling type.
Toy guns which simulate the operation of authentic weapons are well known. Perhaps the most popular of the toy guns is the now-classic "B-B" gun which, by a pumped pneumatic action, singulates and fires spherical pellets known as "B-B's."
Another example of a toy gun is found in U.S. Pat. No. 3,369,535 of Bonanno, which teaches a facsimile, beltfed machine gun which advances a cartridge into a gun housing fires a projectile from the cartridge, and ejects the cartridge laterally from the housing.
Of great interest to weapons enthusiasts is the historical gatling gun, invented by Richard J. Gatling during the mid-nineteenth century. The gatling gun is notable as the principal precursor of the modern machine gun. A modern form of the gatling gun has even been proposed to provide air defense for large bodies of troops.
To date, while many non-operating models of the gatling gun have been made and collected, no operating, pellet-firing version of this historic weapon has been provided.
It is therefore the general object of the invention to provide an operating toy model of a gatling gun.
A further objective of the invention is to provide a pellet-firing toy gun of the gatling type, adapted to simulate the operation of the original gatling gun.
An important feature of this invention is found in the provision of a firing mechanism which positions and fires spherical pellets through the barrels of a rotating gun barrel assembly in synchronism with the rotation of the assembly.
The pellet-firing toy gatling gun of the invention includes a rotatable barrel assembly with a plurality of substantially parallel barrels disposed in a circular array. The barrel assembly is rotated by a rotating mechanism in such a manner that a barrel is rotated to a predetermined firing position once each revolution of the barrel assembly. A firing mechanism, capable of being cocked, positions a substantially spherical pellet at the firing position and propels the pellet through the barrel in response to a cocking and firing actuating sequence. An actuating assembly connected to the rotatable barrel assembly and to the firing mechanism effects the cocking and firing sequence in synchronism with rotation of the rotatable barrel assembly.
In one embodiment, the firing mechanism is a stationary mechanism adjacent the firing position and has a reciprocated spring-actuated firing member. The firing mechanism has a first state in which the firing member is in an uncocked position, a second state in which the firing member is in a tensioned, cocked position, and a third state in which the firing member is released from the cocked position and driven by the firing mechanism against the spherical pellet. In this embodiment, the actuating mechanism includes a rotatable cam attached to the barrel assembly and a reciprocating cam follower acting between the rotatable cam and the firing mechanism. The cam follower advances the firing mechanism through the first, second, and third states in response to rotation of the cam on the barrel assembly.
In another embodiment, the firing mechanism includes a firing member on the barrel assembly adjacent the barrel, the firing member being movable away from the barrel in a cocking direction to a predetermined firing release point. In this embodiment, the firing mechanism also includes a tensioning assembly which biases the firing member toward the barrel when the firing member is moved in the cocking direction and which drives the firing mechanism against the spherical pellet when the firing member is at the firing release point. In this embodiment, the actuating mechanism includes a stationary cam adjacent the barrel assembly and positioned for engaging and moving the firing member along a partially spiral path and in the cocking direction to the release point.